Does More Than Three Hours of Social Media Double Anxiety?

Bruce Reed says spending more than three hours a day on social media doubles the prospects of anxiety or depression. Vivek Murthy pointed that out in a Surgeon General report on the mental health impacts of social media. Kids already spend about four and a half hours a day on a phone on average, so pretty much every kid is in the group spending more than three hours.

A survey of teens found that kids spent about 43 minutes a day on phones in school, although plenty of kids spent six hours. Kids pick up a phone 100 times a day on average and get over 200 notifications over the course of the day. Two thirds said they are often short on sleep because they spend so much time on the phone. He thinks banning cell phones in schools is a good idea, and that every family should ban cell phones after 9 p.m. He says there is nothing better you could do for your kids. Reading and math scores have continued to go down for the past decade of social media, even with lots of other factors in play.

Half of teen girls feel worse about their bodies when they look at social media. Social media exacerbates eating disorders, other forms of self-harm, and depression.